


Hannah

by Loubilou (lilidelafield)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilidelafield/pseuds/Loubilou
Summary: A  little story that has been sitting on my PC for ages...years even, It was originally destined to be part of a much larger story, but with my time as it is, it will likely never get written. However, this story is quite complete in itself, so I hope you enjoy.This story is actually slightly AU, as you will understand when you start reading, but only slightly. It terms of time frame, it is placed towards the end of series five, or possibly a few episodes into the start of season six.Julian receives a call over subspace that knocks him for six....
Kudos: 2





	Hannah

Bashir smiled at the little girl.

"You're fine Ellandra. All mended."

He looked up at the seven year old Bajoran girl's mother, Korisan Deila.

"She'll need to go easy on that arm for a couple of days, Deila, until the muscle strengthens, but no permanent damage."

Deila smiled at the handsome young doctor.

"Thanks Julian. Ellandra, say goodbye to doctor Bashir. We won't be seeing him for a little while."

Julian's expression registered genuine surprise and regret. He was fond of the gentle Bajoran widow and her daughter.

"Oh?"

"We're relocating to Bajor. Since the Dominion war began, this place is getting more and more dangerous, and then we lost Ellandra's father. Jorel brought us to the station to be near the Emissary, but now Jorel's gone..."

Bashir nodded.

"I understand. Take care Deila. Bye Ellandra!"

The woman and the little girl left, nodding to Chief O'Brien on their way out of the infirmary. Bashir acknowledged his friend with a grin.

"And what can I do for you Chief?"

"You finished here?"

Bashir shook his head.

"I have some work to finish off in the lab. I'll be done in about...two hours?"

"Keiko and Molly went off early this morning. I was wondering if you want to meet me at Quark's when you get off?"

Bashir nodded enthusiastically.

"Great. See you at twenty-one hundred!"

O'Brien disappeared, and Bashir began clearing and cleaning up the infirmary after a surprisingly busy afternoon. It seemed that today had been a day full of minor mishaps. People bumping into things; dropping heavy objects on their feet , or other people's feet; falling from high places, mistaking a computer terminal for a power terminal and sticking a hand-probe inside and receiving a hefty shock for their trouble. Two `minor accidents' had occurred when on seperate occasions, one crewman had first been careless and crashed into an off-duty colleague and burnt himself with the crewman's spilt tea, then had failed to mop up the mess, causing one of O'Brien's engineering team, hurrying down to the cargobay carrying a load of stembolts, to slip, stembolts scattering in every direction. Bashir and his nurses had dealt with burns, bumps and grazes, young Ellandra's broken arm, a broken wrist, nine broken toes, belonging to three different pairs of feet, one case of mild concussion, and the aforementioned electric shock, which had been the most serious incident. The Bajoran crewman had been unconscious for nearly two hours, and Bashir was keeping the man in sickbay overnight for observation. That meant being on call himself if any problems should occur during the night, although he was certain the man would be fine.

He repaired to his lab as soon as he and nurse Bandi had cleaned up, and spent twenty minutes sat, PADD in hand, finishing off his days' report for Captain Sisko. Once done, he filed the report on the computer for the Captain's perusal and returned to his test specimens.

Almost ninety minutes later, the Comm system bleeped.

"Dax to Bashir."

Hardly taking his eyes off his work, Bashir tapped his commbadge.

"Bashir!"

"Julian, I have an incoming message for you, privacy coded. Marked important."

Immediately Bashir's attention was with Dax.

"I'll take it here."

"Acknowledged."

Bashir tapped a button on the monitor, and it burst into life.

He leaned forward, seeing a face he had not seen for some time.

"Simon!"

The man on the screen nodded solemnly, and started to speak.

O'Brien sat at Quark's bar and frowned.

"What's happened to him?" He asked himself, "Julian's not usually this late for anything."

He finished his drink and left the bar and walked straight up to the nearest computer terminal.

"Computer, locate doctor Bashir."

"Doctor Bashir is in his quarters." The computer informed him. O'Brien's frown deepened. Was there something wrong? He made up his mind and headed for his best friend's quarters.

When he arrived, he paused, hearing soft sounds coming from inside, but he couldn't quite place them. He rang the door-chime and waited, but there was no answer. He tried again, and then knocked smartly.

"Julian, it's Miles. Are you alright?"

Finally the door was opened, evidently by remote command from elsewhere in the room. Miles entered, and heard the door close and lock behind him.

The room was in semi-darkness, and cold. He moved forward, and

almost stumbled over Bashir in the darkness. He was sat, curled up on the floor beside the sofa, with his face buried in the soft cushion. With a pang, O'Brien realised what the sounds were that he had heard. It was weeping. Desperate, heart-breaking, racking sobs, partly stifled and totally abandoned.

For a long moment, Miles was paralysed with shock and great pity. What on earth could have happened to reduce Julian of all people...to this? He dropped to the floor beside his friend and touched his shoulder.

"Julian, what's happened?"

Bashir made no reply, but made an effort to pull himself together. Several seconds passed before he was able to speak coherently. He left Miles for a moment while he went into his bedroom and attempted to freshen himself up. When he came back, he put the lights on fully and stood awkwardly by the bedroom door with a very watery and rather embarrassed smile.

"Sorry I missed our appointment." he said, simply.

Miles felt desperately sorry for his friend. Something awful had happened. He just prayed for Julian's sake that there would be no medical emergency for a while.

Julian looked awful. He was pale, with dark circles under red-rimmed eyes. His lips were dry and parched.

"Julian, what's happened? Please tell me what's the matter."

Bashir shook his head, and sat on the floor, pulling his knees under his chin, his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

"I wasn't there. I was never there! Now it's too late!"

"Julian, calm down. I've never seen you like this. What's too late? What has happened?"

Bashir got up and started pacing the floor at a furious pace, first one way, then the other, still talking, his words getting faster and faster and more and more jumbled. Miles watched in great consternation. He was no counsellor, but he knew he had to

stop this right now. The poor man was in danger of becoming unhinged. For a moment, Miles considered contacting the infirmary and requesting a nurse with a sedative, but desperation made him grab Julian by the shoulders and shake him hard. Julian seemed not to even notice he was there. In the end, instinct won out over logic, and he hit Bashir in the right temple, not too hard, but perfectly placed to knock the man out cold. Bashir dropped like a stone and lay still, his face suddenly peaceful again.

Miles tapped his commbadge.

"O'Brien to Infirmary. Someone had better get to doctor Bashir's quarters with a medkit right away."

Ten minutes later, Bashir was still out cold, lying on a bed in the infirmary. The medic assured O'Brien that he had done no permanent damage, and the doctor was probably just over-tired. He would sleep out the night now and be fine in the morning. In Bashir's office, speaking in low tones, captain Sisko raised an

incredulous eyebrow.

"You _hit_ him!?"

O'Brien nodded.

"Why? You two had a fight?"

O'Brien shook his head, and explained the reason for his visit to Julian's quarters, how he had found him in an extreme paroxysm of grief, and how the doctor had become so frantic and hysterical that something had had to be done immediately. Sisko took it in silently and calmly.

"Did he say anything to you about what was wrong?"

O'Brien shook his head.

"No, nothing...at least, nothing I could make head or tail of, sir."

Sisko narrowed his eyes.

"All I can think of is the call he received."

"Call, sir?"

"Doctor Bashir received a personal call on subspace just over an hour ago, which he took in his lab. He was certainly fine when he spoke to Dax on the comm. It seems likely he's received devastating news of some kind...which means that it is none of our business unless he chooses to tell us. He'll stay here overnight, and you and I will call by here first thing in the morning."

O'Brien nodded.

"I just hope he can forgive me for hitting him."

Sisko's lips twitched.

"I wouldn't worry about that for now chief. I suggest you get some sleep."

Bashir woke up the next morning at just after four a.m, and sat up, frowning in puzzlement. He was in bed in the infirmary. What was he doing here? The nurse on duty, Coleen Provis, was beside him at once.

"You were brought in last night doctor, unconscious."

"Unconscious? But what...?"

Provis grinned lightly, with a slight mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Chief O'Brien hit you sir. That must have been some argument!"

Bashir sat up and swung his legs out of bed, sitting sideways and rubbed his eyes.

"Argument? I don't..."

Memory returned to him in a sudden rush, so fast that he almost bit his tongue. Provis saw the sudden change in the doctor's demeanor, the colour drain from his face, and noticed the biobed record a sudden jump in pulse rate and blood pressure.

"Sir...you're in shock...hadn't you better lie down again?"

Bashir shook his head, clapping Provis on the shoulder in a friendly manner as he slid off the bed.

"It's all right Coleen, I'm not ill...I'll be fine."

Provis watched Bashir getting dressed, still frowning uncertainly.

"Doctor, I'm not sure that..."

Bashir stood up suddenly and looked at her. Coleen Provis suddenly felt the force and weight of the doctor's personality and intellect through those eyes...that for a moment bored into her, and then it was gone. The moment passed and everything

changed. For the first time, she saw doctor Bashir as barely more than a boy, younger even than herself. He seemed lost and vulnerable, and the infinite sadness in his eyes was echoed by the bleakness of his smile.

"Coleen...I'll be fine. I'll be back in four hours."

When O'Brien and Sisko arrived to see him, about ninety minutes later, they found him gone.

"Nurse, where is doctor Bashir?"

"He woke up some time ago sir. Insisted that he was fine and said he'd be back in four hours. I was not inclined to stop him sir...he isn't ill at all captain. Just...very sad I think."

O'Brien turned to Sisko.

"Captain, may I make a suggestion sir? You've been working half the night and you have a lot of work to do before your meeting with Admiral Ross and Admiral Carter tomorrow. Why don't you take a rest sir and let me look for Julian? If he's like he was last night, I'll call you."

Sisko was as ready as anyone to take good advice.

"Good idea. Keep me informed...and DON'T hit him this time!"

"Aye sir."

They parted, and Miles, more out of instinct than any clear knowledge of the workings of Julian's mind, made his way to the pylons. He finally found his friend folded into a corner of upper pylon two, staring out towards the wormhole.

Julian became aware of someone approaching long before Miles came into view, and guessed from the footsteps that it was his friend. He did not move, but acknowledged Miles' presence with a single nod. Miles joined Julian at the window, noting the calm outward appearance of his friend, but knew Julian well enough to

recognize it as a facade. However, he was not hysterical. He was well in control.

"Beautiful isn't it." Miles remarked matter-of-factly.

Julian nodded.

"It's the one thing that is constant. Everything else changes, moves, inter-reacts in so many ways, but the wormhole is permanent...in some way we can't comprehend. Even the galaxy changes all the time. Suns go supernova, their systems die, ever

moving, never static. Nothing ever stays the same. Miles, don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can always put things off till another day..."

He broke off, shaking his head. Miles turned round, his back to the window, facing his friend.

"Julian, you're scaring me. What has brought this on? You've never been so maudlin. Please tell me what has happened?"

Julian looked at Miles, tears in his eyes. He wiped them away, in vain, as others formed and trickled down his cheeks.

"An accident...I've lost some people who were very important to me."

He gazed out at the wormhole once more.

"I've handled death more times than I care to count...I've often had to tell relatives of victims that their loved one has died, and I've felt desperately sad for them, but I've never actually been in their shoes...until now. I thought I understood what they were feeling. I thought I could well imagine what it felt like for someone you love to die like that. I always knew how I would have felt in their place. I always felt my ability to empathize made me a better doctor..."

Julian swung himself off the ledge.

"I was wrong. No one knows. How could I be so arrogant as to think I had any idea what those people go through, with me making what must seem to them to be simple platitudes of sympathy?"

Miles shook his head.

"You're too hard on yourself Julian. You are a brilliant doctor, and you treat people with kindness and dignity. What more can you ask of yourself?"

He paused. Julian had turned back toward the window again, but seemed to be looking nowhere.

"Julian...who was it? Who died?"

"Miles, do you have siblings?"

"Of course...you know I do..."

"Well...I have one..."

Miles looked surprised.

"You do? I thought you were an only child..."

Julian nodded.

"My parents have always focussed most of their attention on me...but they were always very proud of Hannah."

"Hannah?"

He nodded, tears falling again.

"Hannah is older than me by...about thirty minutes. She's a scientist...as good a scientist as I am a doctor. She has a brilliant mind...all her own; not genetically engineered like...some I could mention..."

He shook his head, the memories tumbling over one another in his mind's eye.

"She's married to a brilliant engineer, a man as clever as herself, and they have twins sons, just over four years old. She called them Jules and Julian. Can you imagine that?"

Miles was stunned. Julian was one of a twin!

"I never knew you had a twin, Julian."

Julian shook his head.

"I don't any more. She's dead. Both she...and the boys."

Miles felt a sharp pang of sorrow for his friend. Who on earth could imagine what it was like to lose a twin? Twins were uncommonly close as a rule. And two nephews as well?

"Oh god Julian! I'm so sorry! You must have been very close."

Julian nodded.

"We spoke frequently. At least once every week. Only last week, I was chatting with my two nephews on subspace. Miles, they're like carbon copies of me when I was their age. The resemblance is incredible..."

"Julian...what happened?"

"Have you heard of Si Warrender?"

Miles eyes lit up.

"Of course! He's done a lot of ingenius work on the improvement of ..."

Julian nodded.

"Well, he's my brother-in-law. Hannah and Si were on the planet Argalia, working on some Federation project when something went wrong, and there was an enormous power surge. Four people killed and ten injured...apparently. Hannah and the twins

were in the creche, directly above the power surge. A conduit blew out in their playroom and caused a massive explosion. Three children were hurt, and Hannah and the twins were killed outright."

Julian put his head in his hands and grabbed a fistful of hair, then let them drop heavily and gazed at his friend with an expression that grabbed at O'Brien's heart.

"Miles, why is always people I care about that get hurt? Do you believe in fate?"

"No Julian, and neither do you. Stop talking like that. It was an accident, a terrible tragedy, but that is all."

Tears fell thick and fast, but Julian still faced the window, and made no sound this time. Miles was concerned about him. He had persuaded Julian to talk to him, but there was very little he could say to comfort his friend. What was there to say?

"Miles, I know you have work to do. You go on. I'll be fine."

O'Brien hesitated.

"Come with me Julian..." he broke off at the despairing glint in the eye, and nodded reluctantly.

"Alright. Look, I'll come by later, alright?"

He left Julian staring out the window and returned to the turbolift. Once inside the turbolift, he tapped his commbadge.

"O'Brien to Sisko."

"Sisko here. Did you find him Chief?"

"Yes sir. Can I talk to you?"

"I'll be in my office in five minutes."

"Thank you Captain. O'Brien out."

In Sisko's office, O'Brien sat awkwardly for a minute.

"Captain, I've never been comfortable with people who are grieving. It's one of the things that make Julian such a great doctor. He always knows what to say...or at least, he always seems to say the right thing when people need it. I always start to feel uncomfortable, and I find I don't know what to do with my hands."

Sisko leaned forward across the table.

"Is Julian...grieving?"

O'Brien nodded.

"A tragic accident..."

"Not his parents?"

"No. His...his twin sister and her children."

Sisko's eyebrows shot up.

"His twin? I was not aware our worthy doctor was a twin, Chief. No wonder he was not himself last night. How is he handling it?"

"How do you handle something like that? He's not actually handling it very well at all, and I wouldn't be either."

Sisko nodded. He knew very well the paroxysms of grief that Julian was experiencing. He understood first hand the gnawing emptiness in the pit of the stomach, the unutterable loneliness that such a loss brings. It was not something he wanted to go over again, but...well, Julian Bashir was an exceptional human being, a brilliant doctor and a very good friend. If it could help him to come to terms...He nodded briskly.

"I'll go and talk to him. Chief, call by sickbay if you will, and tell them to call upon Commander Dax instead of doctor Bashir for the next few hours. I'll speak to Dax. She's a very capable field medic. She'll be able to handle anything minor that comes along."

"Aye sir."

The two men got up and went their separate ways. Sisko approached Dax on the bridge and took her aside. She turned her worried eyes on him at once.

"Ben. Do you know how Julian is? The word is he was...not himself last night."

Sisko remembered that Dax's quarters were very close to Julian's. She had probably heard something of what was going on.

He nodded.

"I need you to cover for him for a few hours Dax. He's had a very bad shock. I'm going to talk to him."

She nodded.

"Of course. Is he going to be alright?"

Sisko grinned at her.

"This is Julian we're talking about. He'll bounce back."

Dax shrugged.

"Don't always be too confident of that Ben. Julian may be genetically enhanced, but he's still human, and he's much more vulnerable than people think. He's still a little boy."

Sisko nodded.

"I'll keep it in mind."

Sisko found Julian still sitting where Miles had left him. His eyes were red from weeping, and there was an air of hopelessness about him that Sisko had never seen in Julian before. Miles was right, he was definitely not himself.

"Julian."

"Sir."

"Miles is worried about you."

"He told you?"

Bashir didn't need Sisko's confirming nod. Miles would never betray a confidence, but he hadn't been told this in confidence, and he was a good friend after all. Julian knew that Miles missed his friend. The man who drank with him, played darts with him, laughed at jokes with him, visited the Alamo with him...Where was that Julian? The man ever confident and enthusiastic about life, about the future, about everything? Did he still exist?

For the first time in his life, Bashir knew he was in a deep depression, caused by the loss of Hannah and the boys, and made worse by the knowledge that he had not seen nearly as much of them as he would have liked to have done. He was never going to see any of them again. He would never see the boys grow up. That he was their very favourite uncle in the whole wide world they had told him numerous times. That they wanted to grow up to be just like him they had also told him many times.

He had seen much less of Hannah recently because of the different directions their work had taken them. He had been meaning to take a trip to visit them, but now it was too late. He had put it off last time with the knowledge that he could call next month, and that she would understand. What was it someone had once said to him? Never do today what you could put put off until tomorrow?

Whoever had said that had been talking about the reams and reams of Starfleet protocols that had to be followed in every procedure. Forms to be filled out, reports to be filed on every single detail. But Bashir knew that it was exactly what he had been doing. Refusing to visit the Warrenders because it was easier not to. A visit always meant an argument with Simon. Now, he was not sure if he and Simon would ever meet again. Si had called him to give him the news, but would he welcome a visit from his hated brother-in-law? Sisko watched the doctor's face, aware that many things were passing through his mind.

"Julian."

Bashir turned to face the captain, expecting a stream of intelligence about having to face things, and time being a great healer and all that nonsense. He did not want to be rude, but he was not ready to hear anything like that just yet.

"Sir?"

"Tell me about her."

"What?"

"Tell me about Hannah."

"Like what?"

"Anything. Everything."

Bashir was taken aback. He glanced at Sisko's face. He too seemed to be remembering something.

"Alright Julian. I'll go first. Jennifer was my very best friend. She had dark hair and dark eyes and a sweet, bubbly nature. She was a wonderful mother to Jake. My father fell in love with her as soon as he met her. She's irreplaceable."

"Hannah..." Bashir glanced at Sisko's face, and turned slightly so that he didn't have to look the captain directly in the eye. If he did, he would break down again.

"Hannah and I are twins. Hannah was born first, thirty minutes later, I came along. We were inseparable as children. Hannah is the only thing that kept me going in first grade school. She was always so quick and intelligent. She used to take care of me, tell me things, over and over again, even though I never could remember anything. She was never impatient or cruel to me like the other kids. She would stand in front of me and defend me, with her fists sometimes. I would have been lost without her.

When we were six of course, came our famed visit to Adigeon Prime. After the treatments, when I started to catch up with her, and then I overtook her, Hannah was never jealous or resentful, only happy for me."

As Julian spoke, Sisko remained silent, watching the way Julian seemed intent on avoiding his gaze. The way his hands repeatedly clasped and unclasped as though unsure quite where to put them. Julian heaved a slightly shaky sigh.

"It was Hannah who found out about the DNA resequencing, and she who told me the truth. It is one of the things I love about her. She never hid anything from me. I knew that no matter what happened, I could always trust her. Whatever she said to me was never `buttered up' to spare my feelings, it was always the complete truth. I have always been able to rely on her for that."

"Did she become a doctor, like you? Did she join Starfleet?"

Bashir shook his head.

"She became a scientist. A civilian scientist, working independently, sometimes on projects for the Federation, usually on her own projects. She was a genius. If she had decided to go into medicine, she could have outstripped me without any effort...

but she always refused compete with me."

"That's the reason she went into science?"

Bashir nodded. Sisko shook his head.

"She sounds like an outstanding woman Julian. You must be very proud of her. How did she die?"

"A Power surge cause a giant plasma explosion during one of the Federation scientist's experiments. Half the power conduits on the station blew out. They...Hannah and the kids...they were...in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Her children died as well?"

"Only Simon is left. He was in a different part of the complex when the explosion happened, and..."

Julian turned back to the viewport, his eyes wet with tears.

"Sorry..."

No wonder Bashir was in a state. No one could take a loss like that on the chin and carry on as normal. Sisko knew that above anyone else. It was especially tragic, since not only losing his own twin, a devastating loss on its own, there were two children involved. Two four year old nephews, both named after their uncle whom Julian would now never see grow up. Sisko had been able to take comfort in Jake. Julian had nothing. He still had his parents, but he did not seem very close to them, although they would doubtless be thinking of him right now. The hardest thing about that was the fact that Julian's father was stuck in prison. He still had another twenty months to serve before his release date. Julian's mother would be alone with the news.

Bashir looked up suddenly.

"Captain...how...how did you get over the death of your wife?"

Sisko gave a slightly startled noise that was part laugh, and part something else.

"Get over it? I don't imagine I shall ever completely get over it, doctor. You...get used to the other person not being around any more. If I ever do get over losing Jennifer, I'll know I've lost my humanity altogether. It's a part of me now. The hardest part was coming to terms with her death. The prophets helped me to do that. They helped me to see that I was living my life in the past because I wanted her back so desperately."

Sisko rested his hand lightly on the younger man's shoulder.

"It takes time, Julian. You need to give yourself that time. Let yourself grieve, for as long as you need. You just need to try to avod making the mistake I made."

"Living in the past?"

Sisko nodded. Julian looked bleakly at him.

"The thing about being genetically enhanced captain, is that I have been cursed with perfect recall. A perfect memory that never fades with time. Most people after a while start to lose the sharp edges of their bad memories. Sadness is eventually replaced with fond or amusing memories."

"But not with you?"

Julian shook his head.

"Not with me. I just hope..."

Sisko smiled sadly.

"We'll all help you Julian. All of us, any way we can."

They stood silently together for a while, Sisko's arm lightly around the doctor's shoulders, offering silent support as the hot tears silently fell.

That evening, after Sisko had delivered a grieving doctor to Miles with the order "stay with him", as if Miles had needed to be told _that_ , Sisko called Admiral Ross on subspace. Ross was aware, of course, of the explosion that had caused the deaths of the eminent scientists Si and Hannah Warrender, but the news that they were directly related to doctor Bashir had initially come as something of a shock.

"I was about to call you, Ben. It wasn't until I investigated the parents and family of the dead woman that I learned exactly who she is...was."

"Didn't professor Warrender...?"

Ross shook his head.

"Si Warrender has not spoken a word to anyone since the day after it happened. The counsellor says he is in deep shock, but that he will be alright, given time. Julian Bashir is family. He should be with him."

"What about the funerals or memorial service?"

"It has been arranged to be held on Earth in three weeks from now, so that the parents of Hannah Warrender can attend. Mister Bashir senior is to be given an armed escort from the penal colony to attend his daughter's funeral. I take it you can arrange a temporary replacement for doctor Bashir so that he can come to Earth?"

Sisko nodded.

"I'll request a doctor from Bajor, and Lieutenant Dax can help out. She is an experienced field medic. Julian should not make this trip alone though admiral. I propose to bring him along in the Defiant, and I will give O'Brien some leave in order to give Bashir some company. He is not likely to find the next couple of weeks easy."

Ross nodded, satisfied.

"You have clearly thought this through already, captain. I'll make sure that preparations are made this end...and I will take good care of Mrs. Bashir, and inform her of the arrangements we have made so far. I'll let you know if anything needs to be changed. Admiral Ross out."

Julian sat in silence as the captain informed him of the arrangements that had been made without consulting him. He felt Miles' comforting presence in the room without looking at him, and decided to defer to Miles' judgement. He knew that he really was not thinking straight himself at the moment, and he needed Miles' habitual clear and practical thinking. Sisko sensed that while the good doctor was listening, he really was not taking anything in. He had been off duty ever since he received the sad news of the deaths of his sister and her two sons, and only Miles had seen anything of the young doctor. Even now he looked so sad sitting there in the uncomfortable chair, rigid backed and unmoving. His mind was cllearly far away. He glanced at Miles, who nodded and leaned to one wide and gave his friend a sharp prod on the kneecap. Julian blinked and looked round.

"What?"

"I didn't think you were listening to any of that Julian. The captain is going to take us both to earth in the Defiant, and he and the admiral are going to collect your mum from Plymouth and your dad from his penal colony and escort them to join us at the memorial service. Your mum won't have to be on her own at the funeral. We can stay on earth and come back with Keiko...if...if that's what you want?"

Julian looked at him, then at the captain. He had always avoided going back to earth, where parts of the past had always mocked him. Where his parents were. But he had learned his lesson. How easy it was to lose someone and find yourself regretting all those missed opportunities. Perhaps this might be the time to try and repair a few bridges with his parents...and with Si? That would certainly please Hannah.

He nodded. And smiled.


End file.
